On 26 December 2007, a new Transformers show, Transformers Animated, made its debut with a three episode pilot which launched a new and different take on the Transformers mythos. Where Optimus Prime was once the supreme commander of the Autobot forces, now he was just a lowly starship captain of a spacebridge repair crew. The Decepticons were powerful and formidable, and the setting was an Earth 50 years into the future, where high technology made robots commonplace and technologically enhanced super villains a part of life.

This was Transformers Animated. We’ve chosen to mark its ten-year anniversary today, on the anniversary of its first non-pilot episode airing, to reflect how Transformers Animated was Transformers in the year 2008, sandwiched between two movie years. We’re also going to dive into how Transformers Animated was a show cut tragically short by a combination of circumstances, and what its lasting legacy has been.

2017 has come and gone, a year of ups and downs for our beloved Robots in Disguise. On the positives we had some excellent new toys including the ongoing Titans Return line, an all-new convention in Hascon, and a strong conclusion to the Transformers: Robots in Disguise show. On the less positive, Transformers The Last Knight became the worst performing of the five Transformers live action movies with an equally poor performing toyline, and fans were undecided about the reboots of IDW’s Transformers comics.

And so, 2016 has drawn to a close and 2017 has dawned. While many revile 2016 for reasons outside of the fandom, within the Transformers fandom there has been a lot of things to get excited about, including big developments in the comics, a very big development in the toys, Michael Bay upsetting people before the new movie even comes out, and not one, not two, but three cartoons for fans to enjoy.

Read on to join us on a fond retrospective look-back at all of what has transpired in the year 2016.

It’s August 8th, 2016 – and that means it is time to say Happy Anniversary to the original that started it all – Transformers The Movie was released on this date 30 years ago. A cornerstone of the animated Transformers canon, the movie brought to the wider imagination some elements that had been in play in the comics for a little while, like the Matrix, along with introducing some other elements which went on to shape the franchise for years to come, such as Unicron.

It’s also been 30 years since children everywhere were reduced to tears by their favorite character, Optimus Prime, dying on screen – along with many other shockingly graphic ends to characters from the early years.

Join us on this retrospective of the key elements of Transformers the Movie – and its enduring legacy which has shaped many of the series which have followed it.

It’s April 22nd, 1996. You’ve just tuned in to a new cartoon, and after a brief opening credits showcasing the characters – all to a rocking theme song – you witness two spacecraft in battle above a planet. After both take damage, both ships crash on to the planet – and a new adventure begins.

It sounds like it could be the opening to the original Transformers cartoon, but what you just witnessed was the dawn of a new era of Transformers, and the franchise’s first true reimagining and reboot. Gone were the jet planes, sports cars, and tanks – this was a different era. An era of robots who turned into birds, mammals, and dinosaurs. This was the dawn of the Beast Era – the Beast Wars!

Join us after the break for a special celebration of Beast Wars and the Beast Era on its 20th birthday [Read more…]

The 31st year of Transformers has been and gone – some might say, flown by – and with it, a year where fans got lots of things they’ve wanted for years (new Combiners with Deluxe limbs and Voyager torsos) but also some of the things they’ve traditionally complained of (repaints of said Deluxe limbs). Hasbro continued their synergy with the IDW comics with the Combiner Wars, while also bringing wider audiences a new show called Robots in Disguise, telling the ongoing story of Bumblebee following the end of Transformers Prime. Gamers were devastated in the best way possible by Platinum Games’ Transformers Devastation, and all the while, like some vast gathering storm, the live action movies underwent a significant transformation of their own into what could be a full blown cinematic universe.

2014 has come and gone, and what a glorious year it has been. The Thrilling 30th year of Transformers has seen a fourth live-action Transformers movie with more POW and kaboom than Warpath’s vocabulary, while the comics have continued to impress with ongoing series and miniseries which are all united by being some of the best written and most fun Transformers comics we have ever enjoyed. The toyline continues onward, of course, with Hasbro adopting an overtly “something for everyone” approach with the introduction of One Step Changers and Power Battlers alongside the traditional larger Generations toys.

Meanwhile in the fandom, Botcon celebrated its 20th year, and TFcon expanded into the US with TFcon Chicago… [Read more…]

On the 30th birthday of Transformers we arrive in 2014. In this concluding chapter please join us as we look ahead to the promise of the 30th anniversary year of the Transformers, and catch up on what has already transpired this year, on this day, 30 years on from that very first Marvel Transformers comic written by Mantlo and Macchio and edited by Bob Budiansky which started it all. [Read more…]

2013 brought a year of endings and beginnings to the Transformers brand – not only was it the year that Transformers Prime ended, but it was also the year that saw several key members of the Transformers brand team, many of whom had worked on the brand since Transformers Armada or earlier, part ways with Hasbro – but not before unleashing the single biggest Transformer toy ever built. On the front of new beginnings, buzz and hype began to build for Transformers 4, and the Transformers Generations line transitioned to a new “comic pack in” style, bundling IDW’s Transformers comics with the Deluxe class toys. [Read more…]

In 2012 the Transformers Prime toyline made its debut almost a year after the show first arrived on screens, with Japan also getting a toyline all of its own complete with several Japan-only releases. Transformers Prime entered its second season on the Hub, and a new Transformers show for younger audiences based on the Rescue Bots toys also launched. The Transformers returned to video game consoles with the Fall of Cybertron, with a line of Generations toys released to coincide with it. IDW relaunched its comics as well, with John Barber and James Roberts helming new ongoing series Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye, while Simon Furman returned to the classic Generation 1 comics continuity that began with The Transformers #1 in 1984 in the form of the Regeneration 1 comic series. [Read more…]